This is an analysis of the poem The Ladle. A Tale that begins with:

The Sceptics think 'twas long ago
Since gods came down ... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: abX ccddbbccee ffggbdhhiiccgg XXjjkkffee bbiiiildX XaeeiiXh mXaahhllii chccllffddnnffaaoohcddnn Xfggff iiiinn llggoo ffiinnffdd ggffmmccookkXhllkk ccppeehX cclliibb ehhii bbgg lloo eeddXibbee
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 3,10,14,10,9,8,10,24,6,6,6,10,18,8,8,5,4,4,10,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 01011101 1111 0010 01101111 11110111 111111010 110100010 011011001 01010101 11011101 01110101 011101110 110111010 01011101 01010111 11010111 01111101 111111110 110111010 11010101 01010111 11110101 10010101 100111001 01011101 1100101 01111001 10111001 11110110 11110111 10010111 111101010 011101110 01101001 11011101 110101010 111100010 111101010 110111010 1101001 01100101 11010101 01010101 1111101010 111111 11 0001000 01000111 111010001 11000111 11110101 11010101 10110110 00111101 11111001 11000101 01010101 01010101 1011100011 101101111 10010101 101111101 111101111 11010001 111011110 100101110 0111010010 11110111 11110101 11111111 11011101 01010111 110001010 011101110 01110111 110100101 110101010 110111010 10100111 11011111 01010101 00010101 11000101 111100101 011101110 100101010 10010001 11010111 110101100 11010001 11011111 11010001 10110111 11111011 11110101 11000101 11001111 110010101 01010111 11011101 11011101 010010001 11010111 10101101 11011111 01111001 11110001 11010101 11011001 11111111 010100101 11010101 11110101 11010101 11110111 110110111 01110101 11010101 11111011 10110101 11110001 11000101 010100110 1110101110 01010101 11010111 010111010 011111110 010011100 1111011100 111101110 111101010 0101001110 110110110 11110101 11110101 01011101 01110111 010101010 101001111 11011101 11010010 01011111 01000101 01010001 11011001 11011101 11010101 01010101 11010101 10 01001111 01111111 01110101 11011011 111101110 001101110 11111111 11011101 01011101 11110101 01010101 01101101 01111110 01110101 110101010 010101010 110101000 01110101 11001101 11010101 100100010 110111010
  • Amount of stanzas: 19
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 318
  • Average number of words per stanza: 59
  • Amount of lines: 174
  • Average number of symbols per line: 34 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; to, and, his, they, how, ladle, for, our are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words to, the, our, how are repeated.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines us is repeated).

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of The Ladle. A Tale;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Matthew Prior